Entrepreneur Danny Schweiger shared 鈥榯he good, the bad and the ugly side鈥� of being a successful CEO at 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 latest roundtable.
The roundtable was organised by and and was attended by a panel of leading North West business leaders to discuss the secrets and pitfalls to growth.
Schweiger opened up about his rollercoaster career at Character World, including the impact it had on his mental health and how he now supports and mentors other CEOs.
He was at the helm聽of聽Manchester-based Character World for 27 years and聽grew聽the business聽at its peak聽to 拢40m turnover and more than 100 staff.
Character World became a聽global name in the home textile consumer product business in the licensing industry, forging lucrative partnerships with iconic brands including Disney, Minecraft, Fortnite and Manchester United.
Alongside his brother Mark,聽Schweiger聽oversaw two private equity-backed management buyouts.
MHA & CG roundtable with Character World co-founder Danny Schweiger
The first MBO was in 2008 with聽RJD Partners and the second was聽with Palatine in 2014 for a reported 拢36m, which signalled an exit for RJD Partners.
Character World was sold to US firm in Bioworld Merchandising earlier this year.
The business won countless awards but聽Schweiger told the audience on Friday聽how the pressures of running the business took its toll.
He said: 鈥淔or most of my career life was a breeze.聽I鈥檇 be on a plane six or seven times a week, attending meetings all over the world, saying 鈥榶es鈥� to everything.
I couldn’t speak
鈥淭hen one day I was in a meeting and suddenly I couldn鈥檛 speak. I went from being able to wing everything to being unable to say my name. I didn鈥檛 know it at the time,聽but I was in the midst of a panic attack.
鈥淚 now reflect and realise I was burnt out but the biggest challenge was operating as normal behind the mask while hiding it from the people around me.
鈥淭hat was definitely the worst part. I didn鈥檛 feel I could show my vulnerabilities and share my challenge with anyone.
Mask hid imposter syndrome
鈥淟eading a business is very lonely. Every leader is wearing a mask of invincibility. What people don鈥檛 see is that behind every mask of every leader is simply a human being with vulnerabilities and weaknesses and, of course, often with the dreaded imposter syndrome.鈥�
Schweiger revealed the coping mechanisms he developed to deal with the pressures on his mental wellbeing and explained how he now draws on those experiences to help CEOs avoid burnout, while also providing a sounding board to help guide leaders toward freedom, transformation, and business success through executive mentoring.
The other panellists taking part in the roundtable were聽Derry Green, owner, Secret Garden;聽Dominic Bennett, CEO, Aspire Software;聽Daniel Ashton, director, KeyGenie;聽聽Nick Richardson, founder, The Insights Family;聽Dave Timmis, founder, Leasing,com;聽Richard Barnes, commercial director, Furza;聽Hannah Munro, managing director, ITA;聽Mark Lindsay, We Do Finance;聽Kate Burt, founder and CEO, HiveRisk;聽Rob Richardson, corporate finance partner, MHA; Sean Mitchell,聽partner (tax), MHA;聽聽and聽Benjamin Dredge, managing partner, CG.
A full report from the roundtable will be published this week.